Assessment of Spatial Variation of Surface Water Quality at Gebeng

International Journal of Civil Engineering & Geo-Environmental 3 (2012)
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
International Journal of Civil Engineering and
Geo-Environmental
Journal homepage:http://ijceg.ump.edu.my
ISSN:21802742
Assessment of Spatial Variation of Surface Water Quality at Gebeng Industrial
Estate, Pahang, Malaysia
M. A. Hossain*, Sujaul Islam Mir, Nasly M.A., Edriyana A. Aziz
Faculty of Civil Engineering & Earth Resources, Universiti Malaysia Pahang, Malaysia
________________________________________________________________________________
ARTICLE INFO
____________________________
Keywords:
Water Quality Index (WQI),
Biochemical Oxygen Demand
(BOD), Chemical Oxygen
Demand (COD), Ammoniacal
Nitrogen
______________________
ABSTRACT
___________________________________________________________________________
Gebeng Industrial Estate is the main industrial town of Pahang, where, Tunggak is a strategic
river. The anthropogenic impact on the river is as a result of rapid industrialization in Gebeng.
This river is of particular importance in the study of surface water quality status because
effluents from industries of Gebeng discharge into it thereby deteriorating the quality. Water
quality parameters were analyzed across the river with the objective to disclose the spatial
variation of the river water quality. To fulfill the objective, water samples were collected
monthly from 10 sampling station and physico-chemical parameters were analyzed using
APHA & HACH standard methods. Heavy metals were determined using ICP-MS. Data
analyses were done using SPSS 16.0 statistical software. The study revealed that, pollution
from non-point source was associated with runoff from construction sites of newly developed
industrial areas and the point source contributing the major pollutants especially from
industrial wastes. According to Interim INWQS, Malaysia based on DO, COD, ammoniacal
nitrogen and some selected trace elements, major part of the river specially the mid-region
was categorized as class V (very highly polluted) while some part was found in class IV
(highly polluted) and rest in class III (polluted) as well. Furthermore, classification of the
river based on DOE-WQI showed that seven (7) stations (2-8) were in class IV (highly
polluted); station 1, 9 & 10 were found to be polluted. It is concluded that pollution is higher
in the middle stations of the river compared to the upper and lower stream.
___________________________________________________________________
1. Introduction
The earth is like a water planet. It is the most delicate
part of environment and is essential for human and
industrial development. Due to rapid industrialization
and population growth, the demand of fresh water rises
tremendously in the last few decades (Yisa and Jimoh,
2010). Quality of water is deteriorating all over the world
in many ways. Anthropogenic activities are the main
causes of water pollution. The rate of pollution by
anthropogenic activities is coupled with the ever-growing
demands of water resources (Charkhabi and Sakizadeh,
2006). Industrial activities are producing most of the
pollutant including organic matter, wastes and heavy
metals. The natural and anthropogenic metal
contamination in aquatic ecosystem leads to the need of
characterizing their impact on environment (MaryLou and Taillefert, 2008). Bounty of natural water
resources make Malaysia as water rich zone; and it is
contributing significantly to the socio-economic
______________
*Corresponding author. Mob: +6016-9888107
*Email address: [email protected]
development of the country (Moorthy and Ganesan,
2012). But the situation is not remaining unchanged; it is
changing day by day with population growth,
urbanization and industrialization. According to the
Environmental Quality Report 2009, 46% river water of
Malaysia was polluted which was higher than previous
couple of years (DOE, 2011). Pahang is the largest
province of Peninsular Malaysia. It is situated in the east
coast area. Gebeng which is the main industrial area of
Pahang is located near Kuantan Port; where the industrial
development is growing rapidly. The wastes producing
by the industries are mixing with the river water namely
Tunggak. Tunggak is one of the important rivers in
Pahang that adjacent to Gebeng industrial park. These
industrial activities are generating effluents which
contain high concentrations of conventional and nonconventional pollutants that deteriorating the water
quality of the river. Therefore, the study was done with a
view to identify the behavior of the water quality
International Journal of Civil Engineering & Geo-Environmental 3 (2012)
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
parameters and to disclose the spatial variation of the
pollution status of the surface water in the study area.
2.
Water temperature of the river varied from 26.160C to
Materials And Methods
2.1 Study area and selection of station
The Tunggak River originated in uphill of Gebeng.
Flowing over the industrial area it meets with another
river named Balok; and they jointly fall into the South
China Sea. The geographical location of the Tunggak
River is 3056� 06� � to 3059� 44� � N and
103022� 42� � to 103024� 47� � E adjacent to the
Gebeng industrial town holding several types of
industries (Figure 1). Stations selection was done
considering the land use-pattern, point-sources of
pollution, vegetation and river network. Total 10 stations
were selected for sampling.
2.2 Sampling, Data collection and analysis
Water samples were collected monthly from pre-selected
10 stations. Three (3) samples were collected from
identical 3 positions in every station for replication. BOD
samples were collected using separate BOD bottle and
during sampling, transportation and preservation, APHA
& HACH standard procedure was followed (Andrew et.
al., 2005; HACH, 2005). Using YSI in-situ parameters
such as, pH, Temperature, DO, turbidity, salinity, EC,
and TDS were also collected during the sampling. For
ex-situ parameters HACH spectrophotometer was used.
TSS was analyzed by using gravimetric method and
heavy metals were determined by using ICP-MS. All
parameters were analyzed within 7 days of sample
collection.
Figure 1: Location of the study area and sampling stations
35.240C among the stations. In most of the stations
temperature was within the normal limit of Malaysia
(Saad et. al., 2008), but the temperature of station 6 to 8
were beyond the normal limit (Table 1). Regarding pH
the values varied from station to station. The highest pH
value 9.12 was recorded in station 6 followed by station
5 and station 7. Those three stations received most of the
effluents of the industrial estate consist of polymer,
chemical, metal, gas & power industries. However, at
most of the station average pH values were found within
the standard level of Malaysia (DOE, 2008). On the
contrary, the lowest value 4.16 was recorded in station 8
followed by station 9 and 10; which were below the
standard. Perhaps the industrial effluents at the area of
station 8 and 10 contained acidic substances and due to
submerge condition at station 9 pH was also low (Table
1)
2.3 Data analysis
For data analysis SPSS 16.0 statistical software was used.
Mean, standard deviation and ANOVA and Principal
component analysis was done using SPSS as it is the
essential tool to identify the underlying factors which are
not observable directly in database; but, the main aim of
environmental research is to identify those factors
influence in environment (Towned, 2003).
3.
Conductivity reading of the stations was mostly
within the normal limit except the stations 1 to 3 (Table
2). This was perhaps because of entering the saline water
in those 3 stations during tide from the South China Sea
(Haris and Maznah, 2008).
Results And Discussion
3.1 In-situ parameters
Station
No.
1.
2.
Geographical
Location
03°56'35"N
and
103°22'32"E
03°57'19"N
and
103°22'60"E
Stat.
tools
Temperat
ure (oC)
pH
Conductivity
(µS/cm)
DO
(mg/L)
TDS (mg/L)
Turbidit
y (NTU)
Range
27.1-30.2
5.7-7.0
14200-27080
2.6-4.4
9040-24300
7.7-22.5
28.78
6.23
18013
3.30
16137
16.66
Mean
SD
1.07
0.52
4946
0.61
7691
6.41
Range
28.0-29.2
7.0-7.7
7700-13660
1.1-2.2
5160-7270
10.1-24.7
Mean
28.55
7.28
10880
1.58
6250
17.72
SD
0.59
0.34
2836
0.41
1088
5.81
52
Assessment of Spatial Variation of Surface Water Quality at Gebeng Industrial Estate, Pahang, Malaysia
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
03°57'40"N
and
1 03°23'15"E
Range
29.0-29.8
7.3-8.4
1244-1800
1.3-1.8
650-869
9.8-20.7
Mean
29.34
7.69
1395
1.69
767
13.70
SD
0.38
0.38
207
0.36
112
3.90
03°57'54"N
and
103°23'23"E
Range
30.9-32.6
7.5-8.5
1119-1320
1.6-4.1
527-821
10.1-17.3
Mean
31.74
7.95
1212
2.71
613
14.14
SD
0.75
0.35
95
0.96
108
3.42
03°58'13"N
and
103°23'23"E
Range
30.9-33.1
7.0-9.0
1380-1630
1.9-3.9
642-748
11.3-34.5
Mean
31.98
7.96
1505
3.12
700
23.44
SD
1.07
0.99
107
0.91
50
12.03
03°58'34"N
and
103°23'14"E
Range
31.6-34.1
7.3-9.1
1423-1740
1.6-3.2
649-778
11.7-28.8
Mean
32.88
8.01
1585
2.32
715
20.98
SD
1.35
0.76
164
0.79
68
8.01
03°59'13.44"N
and
103°23'17"E
Range
33.2-35.2
6.8-8.6
923-1210
2.9-3.9
203-529
6.7-12.4
Mean
33.78
7.65
1068
3.28
365
9.82
SD
0.88
0.62
149
0.51
171
2.30
03°59'16"N
and
103°23'17"E
Range
32.5-34.1
4.7-5.4
51-58
2.8-4.3
19.6-24.8
4.8-10.1
Mean
33.27
4.96
55
3.38
21.78
6.59
SD
0.56
0.29
3.31
1.81
03°59'27"N
and
103°24'12"
26.2-27.4
4.2-6.7
20-27
7.7-8.7
2.1-6.0
Mean
26.78
5.13
24
0.59
1.933.1
2.34
2.25
Range
8.15
3.87
SD
0.61
1.04
3.39
0.38
0.47
1.56
Range
31.1-31.8
5.1-6.4
713-787
2.4-3.0
333-379
7.7-12.2
Mean
31.45
5.86
750
2.66
354
10.11
SD
0.29
0.44
36.01
0.22
22.12
2.09
03°59'38"N
and
103°24'45"E
Table 1: Range, mean and SD of in- situ parameters of the study areas with geographical location
Concentration of DO recorded very low in all of the
stations varied from 1.1 mg/L at station 2 to 4.4 mg/L at
station 1 (Table 1). According to INWQS, Malaysia the
stations were categorized as class III and IV based on DO
concentration.
and there were some agricultural activities adjacent to
the station 2. Meanwhile, TDS of station 7-10 were in
permissible limits 500 mg/L (DOE, 2008) (Table 1).
Regarding turbidity the estimated level varied from 2.1
NTU at station 9 to 34.5 NTU at station 5 (Table 1); only
station 9 was found to be in normal level whether rest of
all contained higher value of turbidity according to the
INWQS, Malaysia (DOE, 2008).
TDS concentration was higher in the lower stations
compare to the uppermost. Station 1 and 2 contained
higher amount of TDS due to tidal disturbance (Haris and
Maznah, 2008), forested area
3.2 Ex-situ parameters
Collecting samples from sampling sites were analyzed in
laboratory for determining the amount of sulphate (SO4),
NH3-N,
nitrate-nitrogen
(NO3-N),
phosphatephosphorus (PO43), BOD, COD and TSS. Results
showed that the amount of sulphate was the highest in
station 1 followed by 2 and 7 (Figure 2).It was due to
station 1 & 2 near the sea (Haris and Maznah, 2008) and
7 was adjacent with some chemical industries which
produced detergent and discharged sulfur reach effluents
into the river flow. The amount of NH3-N varied from
0.25 mg/L at station 9 to 3.47 mg/L at 3 (Figure 3). The
values were beyond the permissible limit of INWQS of
Malaysia; and it categorized the water of mid-stations as
class V. NO3-N level was within the safe
level (<0.4) (Saad et. al., 2008) except station 5 to 7
(Figure 3); those three stations received most of the
effluents from the industries including polymer,
chemical, metal, gas & power and wooden industries of
Gebeng. From the analysis PO43- recorded the highest
6.3 mg/L at station 10 (Figure 4) while the other stations
contained relatively lower concentration of PO43-.
Meanwhile, PO43- amount was in permissible level at
station 7 to 9 (DOE, 2008). TSS was observed almost
below the standard level except at station 1and station 2.
Water at these two stations was found loaded with TSS.
At station 1 the concentration was 47.17 mg/L followed
by 37.67 at station 2 (Figure 5). This was perhaps
53
International Journal of Civil Engineering & Geo-Environmental 3 (2012)
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because of sea water intrusion, forested area and at
station 2 there were some agricultural activities.
Figure 2: Variation of sulphate concentration among the
stations of the study area
Figure 3: Variation of nitrate nitrogen and ammoniacal
nitrogen concentration among the station of the study area
Figure 4: Variation of phosphate concentration among
the stations of the study area
Figure 5: Variation of TSS concentration among the stations
of the study area
Biochemical parameters BOD and COD
concentration were determined and the result was
analyzed. It revealed that, BOD was the highest 32.88
mg/L at station 7 and the lowest was 4.23 mg/L at
station 9 (Figure 6). The BOD values of all stations
were beyond the permissible limit (DOE, 2008) and it
was due to the discharge of industrial wastes to the river
flow. In the same way COD was also maximum at
station 7 and minimum at station 9 (Figure 6).
According to INWQS Malaysia, BOD and COD values
categorized the water of mid-region as class V (highly
polluted). However, COD level recorded safe at station
9 &10.
54
Assessment of Spatial Variation of Surface Water Quality at Gebeng Industrial Estate, Pahang, Malaysia
Figure 6: Variation of BOD and COD concentration among the stations of the study area
Heavy metals were determined by using ICP-MS
(Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry). Result
showed that water of the river was bearing chromium
(Cr), cobalt (Co), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), barium (Ba)
and lead (Pb). The concentration of Pd found to be higher
at all station compare to the permissible level (DOE,
2008). Cu concentration was beyond the standard limit at
station 1 and 7 (Table 2). The Table 2 also showed that,
Co was recorded higher at stations 1 to 6 and Cr
Stations
Station 1
Station 2
Station 3
Station 4
Station 5
Station 6
Station 7
Station 8
Station 9
Station 10
Chromium
0.0082
0.0010
0.0015
0.0013
0.0134
0.0135
0.0395
0.0575
0.0321
0.0161
Cobalt
0.0926
0.2243
0.1740
0.2502
0.6191
0.6716
0.0000
0.0003
0.0920
0.0000
concentration was higher at station 8. However, Zn and
Ba were observed below the standard limit of Malaysia.
Adjacent to the river the major industries are chemical,
polymer, metal, petrochemical and gas & energy; those
effluents bear the toxic heavy metal as a result polluting
the river water of the area. Due to the addition of
industrial effluents with the river water the quality of
water deteriorated and based on the types of industry
pollution level of the river differ from station to station.
Copper
0.4496
0.0033
0.0032
0.0023
0.0154
0.2357
0.4496
0.0033
0.0013
0.3124
Zinc
1.0717
0.9441
0.3431
0.4778
1.9435
0.8405
1.0003
0.8810
0.1400
1.0003
Barium
0.0303
0.0291
0.0282
0.0236
0.0503
0.0256
0.0196
0.0072
0.0101
0.0689
Lead
0.5415
0.4956
0.4827
0.4801
0.4937
0.2323
0.2349
0.2305
0.4896
0.2283
Table: 2: Heavy metal concentration in surface water of the study area (amount in ppm)
3.3 Water Quality Index
cause of higher pollution at mid-stations was due to the
maximum wastes were adding at those stations as dense
industrial activities were existing at the mid-region; on
the other hand, at upper stations minimum industry and at
lower station tidal interference made the water less
polluted (Haris and Maznah, 2008).
Water quality index values were calculated based on DO,
BOD, COD, NH3-N, TSS and pH concentration
(Norhayati, 1981; Yusuf, 2001 and Haque et. al., 2010).
Water quality classification of the study area was done
using the calculated WQI-values and demonstrated in
Table 3. As can be seen, according to the DOE-WQI of
Malaysia the water of the Tunggak River was classified
as Class IV (highly polluted) except the lower station 1
and upper stations 9 & 10; which were found to be
polluted (Table 3). The water of the river at station 2 to 8
was found to be not usable except irrigation; and the
water at station 1, 9 & 10 could be use for some specific
fisheries only after intensive treatment (DOE, 2008). The
55
International Journal of Civil Engineering & Geo-Environmental 3 (2012)
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Sampling
station
Station 1
Station2
Station 3
Station 4
Station 5
Station 6
Station 7
Station 8
Station 9
Station 10
DOE-WQI
Water
values quality class
51.99
45.67
45.35
44.48
43.36
43.16
38.35
50.47
61.95
53.18
III
IV
IV
IV
IV
IV
IV
IV
III
III
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Highly
Polluted
Polluted
Where, DOE-WQI value, ≥91.76 = Class I;
75.3791.75 = Class II;
51.68 – 75.36=Class III; 29.61 –
51.67 = Class IV and <29.61= Class V
Table 3: River water quality classification of the study
area based on DOE-WQI
4.
Conclusion
This study revealed that the pollution level was
comparatively higher in the middle stations because of
maximum wastes discharged to those stations from the
industries. On the other hand, due to tidal interference at
lower stream and less industry at the upper stream caused
less pollution in lower and upper stations. Considering
the analytical results and data analysis it is clear that the
major source of pollutant was the industrial activities.
The variation among the stations was due to the presence
of different types of industries. Again, the presence of
forest, agricultural land, homestead and sea also
contributed to the spatial variation. To reduce the
pollution level of the river water close monitoring of
industrial activities should be ensured and emphasis
should also given on recycling of industrial wastes of
their own before discharging to the river flow.
5.
Acknowledgement
Authors are grateful to the University Malaysia Pahang
and Faculty of Civil Engineering and Earth resources for
research funding through the project RDU: 110354. We
are also grateful to the laboratory personals for their
cooperation during sample analysis.
56